RAL
| Rifle, Automatic-Loading | |
|---|---|
 RAL | |
| Type | Battle Rifle |
| Place of origin |  Ostrozava |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1954 - present |
| Used by | Ostrozavan Protection Force Ostrozavan Civil Service Democratic Coalition Norinnian Armed Forces |
| Wars | Great Republican War Enyaman Civil War Fahrani Civil War |
| Production history | |
| Designed | 1943 - 1954 (intermittant) |
| Manufacturer | Şomvor Steel Works |
| Produced | 1954 - present |
| No. built | > 4,000,000 |
| Variants | See Variants |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 4.25 kg (9.4 lb) |
| Length | 1,090 mm (43 in) (Standard Model) |
| Cartridge | 7.92×57mm (Ostrozavan) 8mm Short (XXX) 7.5×54mm (Rubricine) |
| Action | Gas operated, tilting bolt, short-stroke piston |
| Rate of fire | Semi-automatic, selective fire |
| Effective firing range | 600m |
| Maximum firing range | 800m+ |
| Feed system | 20-round or 30-round detachable box magazine |
| Sights | aperture sights |
The Rifle, Automatic-Loading (Ostrozavan: Osobnă Zbranei Automatiță), commonly referred to by its acronym, RAL (Ostro-Ludzic: OsAZ), is a family of select-fire rifles produced in Ostrozava and used by the armed forces of several nation worldwide, first as standard service rifles, then in the battle rifle role. It is the dimensionally metric cousin of the Arthuristan L54 rifle; both are close mechanical adaptations of the last-generation Otomarcan Torsfeld RSL.
As the most common Ostrozavan infantry weapon of the Great Republican War, the RAL became closely associated with Republicanism and leftism during and after the war. The Ostrozavan Civil Guard still uses the 1990 pattern, or BSv.54/M, as its standard issue reserve and militia rifle, although it is undergoing replacement within the Ostrozavan Protection Force by a variety of ergonomically modern contenders. In Otomarca it replaced the Olesunn Rifle and the Torsfeld RSL that had inspired it as the standard service rifle of the ???. It has seen use in the Great Republican War, XXX, Enyaman Civil War, and Fahrani Civil War.
Cartridge
Initially developed for the North Ottonian 7.92×57mm rifle cartridge used on the earlier Olesunn Rifle and Torsfeld RSL, the cartridge proved to be extremely difficult to control in automatic fire and even was considered to generate too much recoil to be suitable for sustained semiautomatic fire. With advancements in propellant, a reduced-length modification of the 7.92×57mm round, the 7.92×50mm, was found to produce comparable ballistic results while producing a more manageable semiautomatic firing experience, although the rifle continued to be difficult to use in automatic fire without the benefit of bipods or heavy barrels to offset the still-considerable recoil.
However, desiring ammunition parity with its earlier Sv.24 rifles and SSv.51 weapon systems, the Ostrozavan military opted to produce the weapon in 7.92×57mm, a chambering which it uses to this day.
In addition, variants were also produced chambered in the experimental 8mm short rifle cartridge, which Ottonian engineers had been tinkering with at the tail end of the Great Ottonian War and through the 1940's. Although the loss of range the greatly-shortened cartridge experienced made it undesireable for the primary service rifle that the RAL went on to become, a carbine variant chambered in the shorter cartridge was also briefly produced for lower-echelon units and the at-the-time burgeoning Federal Guard Service.
Development
[Some stuff about blueprints and the SLR. Need Arth's input on this.]
The other major inspiration for the RAL was the existing North Ottonian service rifle, the Torsfeld RSL. On a mechanical level, the reliability and performance of the gas-operated, short-stroke piston action had been more than satisfactory, but the RSL had a number of feed issues and, produced as a full-size rifle with a full-sized rifle cartridge, the RSL had a number of issues that were intentionally targeted for correction in the RAL's design process. Key to this was the switch to a standard 20-round detachable box magazine, with 30-round variant magazines later being produced. In addition, the barrel was shortened and the furniture was generally reduced in-size, as well as lightened to reduce the weapon's weight.
Variants
M71
The Rubricine adaptation of the RAL, designated the XJR Mukala asgas/añu 71, or M71 in Talaharan and Tyreseian service, began in the early 1960s. The variant featured several modifications compared with the Ottonian and Ostrozavan service models, including chambering in the 7.5×54mm cartridge. The handguard of the rifle was shortened and the barrel is mounted with a gas cutoff and volley sight for the purpose of launching rifle grenades. The receiver cover was also reinforced and further sand-proofed while the carrying handle was dispensed with. The 533 mm long barrel standard on the full-length RAL was reduced to an even 500 mm for the M71. Overall, these modifications increased the weight of the weapon from 4.25 kg to 4.53 kg. Further changes were made to lower the cyclic rate of the rifle in an effort to increase its controllability in automatic fire. This afforded Rubricine soldiers greater control than the Ostrozavan production in 7.92×57mm, but still less than the Ottonian RALs. Infantry doctrine continued to call for the rifles to be used predominantly in semi-automatic mode.